I guess we're addicted to lakeside campsites -- sorta.  After seeing $43 per night for sites at RV parks in Carlsbad, the $17 for Lake Brantley State park looked pretty darned good.  17 miles away didn't even sound so bad since we have the CRV for running around.  So we came and found a very nice campground with about 50 sites, 10% of them filled.  We picked a spot "right by the lake" -- looks maybe 1/2 mile away -- not much water there. :-(  And warnings to not eat the fish (full of DDT).  But it's fine.  We signed up for two nights to have time for all we want to do.

Did another shameful thing today:  Went to another laundry. :-(  SHE warned me before I left home to wash the Travasak sheets often.  Today was often.  Had a few other things left over from the last time so took care of it all.

Since we arrived at Brantley before 10 AM MDT, we had a long day to kill before the "Bat Show".  We wandered Carlsbad city pretty thoroughly.  They've got some nice places along the  Pecos River (which I always thought was in Texas), including a big, long, public park.  But I sure wouldn't want to live here.

Since we arrived at the Cavern reservation a couple of hours before show time, we stopped at one of the exhibit areas along the road.  First thing I knew, Dennis was indistinguishable from one of the spindly cactii on top of the nearest peak.  That's great.  Wish I'd been up to climbing there with him.  He'll remember that little adventure long after I'm gone.

The bat show didn't amount to much.  The female ranger gave a VERY good introduction to the location and to bats in general.  She warned us in advance that it's early in the season so the bats' actions can't be predicted -- 5 showed up last night.  We did get a much better presentation than that -- a couple of hundred, at least, finally stirred,  The 400,000 number we'd heard is an "all season" thing anyway.  Maybe we should go to Austin, TX, where she says they have 1.5 million -- under a BRIDGE! :-(  Or the privately owned cave somewhere else in Texas that has 20 million!  No thank you.

Tomorrow we'll be out bright and early to do an un-escorted trip into the cavern, and an escorted tour to the deepest level in the afternoon.  Should be a full day.

Off to bed.

Ken